WAOVW Notes and Quotes

Notes and Quotes:
Truth vs Reality and Illusion

• There is a dark undercurrent to the music which sounds like it could be beautiful- short dissonant blips
• Painting in the office has a "quiet intensity"
• "just playing a game"

Marriage and Family

• "what a dump"
• "[George] never do anything ... just sit around and talk"
• Martha doesn't really clean up the miss but rather fails at hiding it
• "why won't you kiss me?"
• "the way to a man's heart is through is wife"
• 
  
• Martha "doesn't go up [get pregnant] at all"
  • Her infertility means they can't be the perfect american family
• "I wear the pants in the house because somebody has to" Martha
  • She wants george to be the man of the house so she can be the happy housewife

American dream; Materialism and success worship

• George has failed success- Martha's father wouldn't publish his book
  • "daddy wouldn't let him"
• He is a "flop"
• "it was fine" at the university environment
• George tells nick that Martha's father never lets people leave the university
  • Professional ambition can trap people like it has George and Martha
• Martha knocked him out, embarrassing him before all of his colleagues
• The one to take over the history department "won't be George" as according to martha
  • method of attack because it is where he is vulnerable
• George and martha's marriage "seemed practical"

History vs Biology debate

• George mocks that biology will turn everybody the same by rearranging chromosomes- everybody perfect
  • He feels imperfect and expresses his jealousy for those who are maybe?

Their made-up son

• "Don't bring up the bit [about the kid]"
• Martha brings him up first breaking the "rule"
• George tells nick "that's for me to know and you to find out"
• "the little bugger" according to martha
• Discuss how he might not be George's son
• George yells that the son is "him not it!"
• 
  
• "doesn't go up [get pregnant] at all"
  • Her infertility means they can't be the perfect american family
• Martha "never cornered the son of a bitch in my life"

Alcohol

• George keeps pouring Martha more drinks even though Martha pretends like it messes her up
  • She only eats the Ice
• Honey is by far the most affected
• "half filled glasses all over the house wherever martha leaves them" - George

Power

• George can't kiss Martha because he'd "have to take you by force"
• "daddy knows how to run things" - Daddy holds the power in their marriage, not George
• Both husbands don't support their wives with manly strength or kindness
• "build a government ... to the point where there is something to lose"
• George yells "silence!" with furry - he needs control over the situation
  • Just like when he yelled "vanish"
• "I tried ... I wear the pants in the house because somebody has to!" said Martha
• Nick trips and falls when running away from George after their talk at the swing
  • George also seemed satisfied during earlier chat with nick when he got angry
• "A drowning man takes down those nearest."

Conflict

• Don't hold hands in opening seen and there is gap between them
• "what"
• Frequently ask for each other to repeat things because they can't hear each other
• "You're [Martha] always springing things on me"
• "don't you [George] know anything"
• Martha chooses to attack George's intelligence
• George "will not light your [Martha's] cigarette"
• "I'd imagine she [Martha] wants to be comfortable" when she changes her clothes. George responds "we'll see about that!" angrily
• Shoots Martha with umbrella gun to symbolize escalation of their conflict
• Revert to games, lies, and secret sharing to manipulate each other out a desire for attention and comfort
• "build a government ... to the point where there is something to lose"
• George won't dance with martha - "not with him [Nick] around"
• Martha has "been trying for years to clean up the mess ive made"
• "Try and I'll beat you at your own game" - George to martha

Language: learning, wit, and humor

Escape into past or future

• Moon comes full circle at the beginning and end of story
• "dashed hopes and good intentions. good, better, best, bested" is what happened to George at the university
• George is literally "in" the history department "preoccupied"
• Talks about history to Nick regarding Martha- he is not the first to use her for business purposes

George

• More composed walking in opening scene
• "never do anything ... just sit around and talk"
• Has a painting of "quiet intensity"
• Seems satisfied by angering nick
• He fails at being a prince charming- can't make his princess happy
• "preoccupied" with history
• sulks outside to lure Nick out as he claims
  • Or did Martha and Nick's supposed kiss have an effect on hiim
• Says "he would" go to institution for hysterical women if he were Martha
  • No help for 1960's man
• "sneaky types ... you intellectuals"
  • This is how George keeps power
• George's novel about the boy who killed his parents "pretends it's all an accident"
  • Martha says george claimed it "really happened to me"
• "cruel and vicious" for telling stories of the past
• George hates Daddy. Not for anything Daddy's done to him, but for his own... Inadequacies?
• I [Martha] looked at you and you [George] weren't there!"
• "A drowning man takes down those nearest" said Martha

Martha

• Erratic walking in opening scene
• Scarfs down chicken wing
• "always springing things on me [George]"
• Rides on top of George like a kid
• "why won't you kiss me"
• Places hand on Nick's knee as if to lure him in
• "wants to be comfortable" as Honey says
  • Martha just wants comfort and attention from George- he cant provide it
• She is loud and obnoxious and pretends to be insensitive but has moments of vulnerability
• Have a college degree
• "doesn't go up [get pregnant] at all"
  • Her infertility means they can't be the perfect american family
• "been trying for years to clean up the mess i've made"
  • She sees their failed marriage as her fault?
• Calls herself a bitch - "I never cornered the son of a bitch [her son]"
• "a romantic at heart"
• "tired of whipping you ... It's not what I wanted!"
• "Once a month ... We get Misunderstood Martha, the good-hearted girl beneath the barnacles."
  • See a few quotes up... trying to get george's attention for a long time

Nick

• "young, well-built man ... of course" A prince charming maybe
• Has to get wacked by Honey before he compliments house
• Sits far away from honey and scoots away from her
• George keeps mistaking him for being head of math department
  • His attempts at getting to Martha for professional ambition is a formula for disaster
  • "represent a threat to me [George]"
• "I didn't say I was deaf. I said I didn't understand"
• Trips and falls as he runs away from George after their talk on the swing
• George says to him: "you ineffectual sons of bitches, you're the worst"
• We want to wait a little, until we're settled.

Honey

• Arrives to their house drunk
  • Slurs words and hurls in restroom
• Compliments house a couple times
• Is in the background of a camera shot with Martha and Nick
• "frail" as according to Nick
• "she does throw up alot"
• Father was "man of lord" who baptized people
• Had a hysterical pregnancy which is when a woman wants desperately to be pregnant and tricks body into thinking so
• "I want some dancing!" while totally drunk
  • Dancing symbolic for their games
• "Look at me ... I'm all puffed up!"

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Appearances

• Martha rides on top George chanting it childishly
• George dances with Honey chanting the phrase loudly to drown out Martha's tales of how he failed to impress Martha's father

Insults to George (all quotes)

• daddy said so
• don't you know anything
• cluck
• idiot
• dumb
• stupid
• fool
• sourpussy
• moffmonkey?
• old bog in history department
• swampy, swampy!
• flousie
• it, that, there
• great, big, fat, flop
• son of a bitch
• convoluted ... talk like you're writing one of your papers
• You wouldn't say that if he was here. You're a coward!
• "I swear, if you existed, I'd divorce you."

Stories of the past

• At the first university party George refuses to box with Martha's father so she punches him and knocks him out in front of everybody
  • Father taunts George "what sort of a son and law are you?!"
  • Martha embarrassed him before all of his colleagues
• George talks about a boy who accidentally killed father in car crash because of being hung over from a night of alcohol
  • When he asked for a glass burgeon they all "laughed ... and everyone started ordering burgeon and laughing ... it lasted a long time"
    • Perhaps parallel to embarrassment he faced from colleagues or a hard past for George
  • The boy has spent last 30 years in an "asylum" and hasn't spoken in last 30 years
• Plays "get the guest" by telling secret stories from their past- a "cruel and vicious" game

Major Quotes
"It snapped- the whole arrangement" "Snap! ... just don't give a damn any more" Martha
"You [George] can stand it [humiliation]. It's why you married me!" Martha said
George responds to above statement "thats a desperately sick lie"
"Great, big, fat, flop ... old bog in the history department" George is according to martha
"Martha "doesn't go up [get pregnant] at all""
"I tried ... I wear the pants in the house because somebody has to" Martha does